Matthew Modine on Weeds

Season three of Weeds brings in two major new characters. Mary Kate Olsen plays Tara the good Christian Girl, and Matthew Modine comes in as a less noble character, Sullivan Groff.

Jenji Talks How to Fertilize Weeds

"I'm kind of like the Music Man," said Modine. "He's a religious pretender like so many people in our government, who is profiting from the ideals that were written so many thousands of years ago, selling communities that are faith based communities. But it's all motivated for his own benefit. He does what he needs to do in order to succeed like some kind of virus, I think. An opportunistic virus."

That makes two new characters dealing with religion, but Modine's is less about faith. "I think that Sullivan Groff probably wouldn't put much stock in any book that was written when the world was flat. That all of these religious faiths, they have to evolve and become something that has empirical truth. I think that [to] Mr. Groff, there are things that are proof, empirical proof and I think that that's what his faith is, is how to achieve things. Like 2 plus 2 equals 4, that's a fact. So he'll use something in order to achieve a goal, but I don't know that Sullivan Groff really is a truly spiritual man."

The film star has made several ventures into television, but Weeds may be the peak of his endeavors. "I've got to tell you, I'm so honored to be on this show that I feel like Mary-Louise and Elizabeth and Kevin Nealon and I, we all kind of came up at the same time. This show is extraordinary. The way Showtime and Jenji and the other writers have created it is something that's not really television. It's not really a motion picture. It's kind of a beautiful hybrid and they've invented something that's new and fresh. It's just an honor for me to be working with such a creative group."